(Newser)
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In a largely symbolic move, Senate Democrats tried unsuccessfully today to push through two measures related to the Bush tax cuts. The first would have extended the expiring cuts to individuals making less than $200,000 a year, and the second would have hit millionaires, reports the Wall Street Journal. Neither got the 60 votes necessary to advance, with Democrats hoping the defeats set them up as defenders of the middle class and the GOP as defenders of the rich.

The Senate votes follow a similar defeat in the House derided earlier in the week by Speaker-to-be John Boehner as a "chicken crap" ploy designed to score political points for the 2012 elections. In the meantime, negotiators from both parties and the White House continue to work on some kind of compromise on the tax cuts, one that would likely involve extending expiring jobless benefits as well.